Black Friday means vinyl rarities for sale

DAYTONA BEACH -- Black Friday, that stampede of a shopping day following Thanksgiving, will mean shopping for rare black vinyl for Daytona-area record collectors.

Record Store Day, an annual April event founded in 2007 "as a celebration of the unique culture surrounding over 700 independently owned record stores in the USA," has spawned a similar promotion on Black Friday. For both events, record companies and music artists join to celebrate independent record stores by fueling those retailers with rare releases -- mostly new vinyl releases produced in limited quantities.

Atlantic Sounds, an independent store at 138 W. International Speedway Blvd., Daytona Beach, will once again be stocking a sizable stash of Black Friday rarities. The store will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday for the event. For more information, call the store at 386-258-1420 or go online at recordstoreday.com.

Black Friday offerings include "some really cool stuff," said Atlantic Sounds owner Mike Toole. Among the items: box sets of the Beatles' singles, John Lennon's 40th anniversary edition of "Imagine" and Pink Floyd's "The Wall" singles, and a book/Blu-ray/DVD of the Beastie Boys' "Hot Sauce Committee Part Two" (deluxe edition).

"There's some neat stuff that's going to go pretty quick," Toole said, an assessment he based on experience.

"Last year, I got here at 10 after six, and the whole block was parked with vehicles," Toole said. "I thought I would fake everybody out and get here early, but they were already sitting out there waiting. There was a block party going on."

Record collectors and rock music fans "come from all over," he said. "Georgia, Jacksonville, Orlando, Ocala, Gainesville, Melbourne, Cocoa. If they have a local store, they'll go there first. But if they don't have one, or their store is already out of something, they'll call me.

"I won't hold items for people, but I can tell them if I have it or not."

At recordstoreday.com, event organizers insist Black Friday "is NOT Record Store Day Mach Deux or RSD Jr. or anything like that. This is a terrific street date of great releases that can only be found at real live record stores."

The website includes a list of Black Friday offerings. "They're mostly all vinyl," Toole says, and include 7-inch (45), 12-inch (full album) and EP releases.

But event organizers and Toole advise music fans that, because items are produced in limited quantities, they must be allocated to participating stores across the nation, and stores may not receive some or even many of the releases. And, they note, stores may sell out of items they are able to stock.

"The idea is to have exclusive one-shot deals," Toole says. Though he places his order "early like I always do," he didn't know at press time how much of his requests would be fulfilled.